Albania Destroys 8.2 Billion in Marijuana

Albania’s Interior Ministry says the country’s authorities have destroyed marijuana of an estimated market value of 6.4 billion euro ($8.2 billion) this year — more than 60 percent of the country’s annual GDP.

Minister of Interior Affairs Saimir Tahiri says police have destroyed 102 tons of marijuana and 530,000 marijuana plants since March and have arrested or indicted some 1,900 people.

More than half of the marijuana was found in the lawless southern village of Lazarat following a dramatic five-day police raid in June.

Tahiri said Tuesday Albania is now no longer a country where drugs are produced, and pledged “an absolute fight against drugs and dirty money.”

Albania has been a major marijuana-producing country and transit point for moving other drugs from Asia and Latin America to Europe.